2012 Mayan Prophecy Endtimes. Day 21 and Counting!

3 weeks until the End of the World. Are you busy getting your affairs in order? Have you spent all your money or are you hoping that maybe, just maybe, the people who claimed that the Mayans foretold the end of the world on Dec. 12, 2012, were WRONG? We couldn’t be that lucky, could we? No, our fate is sealed. There will be an astronomic event that will be our doom that Solstice morning. Oh, blessed are they that wait for the coming of Space Brothers on that propitious day! Our troubles will finally be over, once and for  all. And the best part is that we never had to take responsibility for ourselves and for our world. Intervention is our Holy Savior. Amen.

 

 

 

 

The Human Potential Movement Part 2. The New Age

The “Secret” with dealing with Rhonda Byrne? Sign the contract.

Human Potential Movement  and the New Age
At the beginning of the 20th Century, the followers of a Greek-Armenian mystic with a message of awakening to a “higher consciousness” promoted George I. Gurdjieff (1866?-1949) as an enlightened spiritual master. Gurdjieff claimed that human beings were helplessly caught in a “waking sleep” unable to perceive reality fully, thus Gurdjieff’s teachings were necessary in order for the student to transform his life into one of enlightenment and clarity.

Gurdjieff’s theories were allegedly given to him through a mysterious association of a secret spiritual group called the “Sarmoung Brotherhood,” an esoteric Sufi group that Gurdjieff claimed descended from the Assyrians who live somewhere in the “heart of Asia.” Modern critics claim that the Sarmoung was a fictive device Gurdjieff used to promote is ideas.

In America there was a concurrent, if small movement that taught that humanity was spiritually evolving. In 1924, Baird Thomas Spalding (1872–1953) began publishing a series of books called, Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East. These books allegedly depict Baird interviewing beings of great spiritual power, “Ascended Masters” much like the “Mahatma” figures made popular by Helena Blavatsky and the mysterious Sarmoung Brotherhood of G. I. Gurdjieff.

Guy Ballard (1878–1939), who happened to be a friend of Spalding, claimed he met the Ascended Master “Saint Germain” on Mount Shasta. The message from the Ascended Masters was that they were once human beings after becoming perfect during reincarnation; their spiritual perfection allowed them to be immortal, residing in the higher planes of existence. They invariably mentioned that their evolution from human to god was destined to occur for all humanity, in accordance to the Divine Plan.

Even though the core of the HPM was wrapped around the pole of existential humanism, there was a metaphysical slant that appeared at the beginning, thanks to Esalen’s attraction to Zen Buddhism, and Esalen’s attraction to the ideas of Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950), who had worked on his theories of spiritual evolution and what he called, the “Supermind.” For Aurobindo, the Supermind is similar to the nous or the Logos of Classical Greek metaphysics, and the familiar all-pervading Brahman of Hinduism; the divine creative consciousness, transcendent and immanent within the world. According to Aurobindo, the potential exists within every human to access the consciousness of the Supermind which would lead the humanity into a realm of supernatural transformation.

Alice Bailey (1888-1949) produced a multitude of densely complex spiritual material that covered, in part, the role of what Bailey termed, the “Spiritual Hierarchy.” This squad of immortal masters were behind the physical and spiritual evolution of humanity. Whereas the “Mahatmas” of Blavatsky claimed that depictions of “God” were “imaginary,”[1] Bailey’s Masters argued that a “spiritual plan” presupposed its creation by “God,” and included an intervention of cosmic avatars who would descend to Earth and prepare humanity for the arrival of the cosmic Christ, who would then rule the Earth along side the Spiritual Hierarchy (which sounds much like a New Age reinterpretation of Christian fundamentalist view of the Book of Revelations). Bailey believed that the raising of one’s consciousness to the divine, as will as recognizing one’s inner divinity would initiate a golden age for humanity. [2]

In 1963, Jane Roberts (1929-1984) and her husband Robert Butts where playing on a Ouija board when she began receiving messages from a spirit who came to call himself, “Seth.” The material dictated by “Seth” energized and gave shape and form to the emerging New Age movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Seth repeated stated that the key to self-transformation was to “create your own reality.” The Seth Material almost single-handedly gave the New Age in the 1970’s its vocabulary, shape and cosmology. “Seth” continuously referenced “Inner Selves,” “Higher Selves” and that consciousness creates and influences the physical. Seth also loudly echoed and reinforced positive thinking principles. New Age luminaries like Shatki Gawain, Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra and many others have referenced the Seth Material as being a great influence in their thinking.

J.Z. Knight (Judith Darlene Hampton) and her channeled being, “Ramtha,” who claims to be a being from an ancient and advanced race of humans in the distant past and became an “ascended master,” speaking through Knight and continuing in Seth’s path in the wake of Roberts’ death in 1984. The message from Knight/Ramtha was that consciousness and energy can change reality. Consciousness and energy are the same. Human beings, according to Ramtha, are on a path towards enlightenment, and we are also “divine” (echoing many spiritualists of the past).

Rhonda Byrne and “The Secret”
However, the culmination of 20th Century spirituality occurred in 2007 with the release of the film, The Secret. Rhonda Byrne, the film’s creator, claimed that the core ideas for the film were the messages from a book written in 1906; “Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World,” by W.W. Atkinson (a New Thought writer) and Wallace Wattles’ 1910 book, “The Science of Getting Rich.” The Secret contains many New Thought ideas such as, “No rules according to the universe… you provide the feelings of having it now and the universe will respond.” The Secret, although considered as “New Age” as anything, was primarily a reiteration of a century-old New Thought spirituality.

The Secret, with the help of media attention, slick packaging and being in the right place at the right time, made millions for Byrne, and brought attention to the stable of speakers featured in the film. Byrne was embroiled in a legal dispute with two former associates who claimed they were promised a cut of the profits from Byrne’s film, which reportedly grossed $20 million in the first eight months (The film and books ended up raking in over $300 million collected worldwide). When the subject of payment came up with her Australian director and co-author of the screenplay, Drew Heriot (who had personally kicked in $10,000 towards the production), Byrne instead fired him.

“Essentially, she said my company wouldn’t be working with her again and they’d be using another writer and director for the sequel. I said, ‘I can’t believe you are doing this. Are you saying there is no profit-share?’ She said, ‘Yes, but I can return the $10,000 you gave me.’”[3]

Heriot sued Byrne for copyright infringement and fraud. Heriot sued Byrne, but lost in court in 2009. [4] Heriot vowed to appeal. Apparently, the Law of Attraction works better if you get it in writing.

Esther Hicks and “Abraham”

One of the main speakers in the original cut [5] of The Secret was Esther Hicks and her channeled entity (or entities, as Hicks claims Abraham is a collection of beings), who carried their Law of Attraction message to a wider audience. Esther Hicks was influenced by Seth Material, in particular, “Seth Speaks” and (not surprisingly) Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich,” which seems to be the go-to book for anyone wanting to make a splash in the Human Potential Movement. Abraham/Hicks goes a step farther beyond being indebted to the Law of Attraction, for if you visit the Abraham/Hicks site you’ll see a rebranding of the Law of Attraction as the “Teachings of Abraham” and where your grandfather’s Law of Attraction took time to get what you wanted, the Teachings of Abraham offers of manifesting your desires “instantly.” I suppose we can call this Law of Attraction 2.0.

Next: The Human Potential Movement Part 3. The New Prosperity Gurus

Notes

[1]  The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett, 2nd. ed., TUP, 53, 1926. pg.142- 43.

[2] Bailey, Alice. A Treatise on White Magic, Lucis Publishing 10-11

[3] Guilliatt, Richard. “The secret of Rhonda.” Australian Magazine. 28 2008: n. page. Web. 31 Oct. 2012.

[4] “Heriot recalls that early on Byrne promised him a percentage of the film’s profits, but rebuffed his request for a written contract. “Rhonda actually insisted that we not have a contract – she said they limited people’s freedom, that they’re designed to guard against things going wrong, which is not the way of The Secret because it is focusing on the negative,” he says.” (Guilliatt).

Indeed, since Heriot did not get the promise down in writing, he effectively failed “to guard against things going wrong,” allowing Byrne to “burn” him out of millions. 

[5] Salkin, Allen. “Shaking Riches Out of the Cosmos.” New York Times, 25 Feb. 2007. Web. 31 Oct. 2012. Byrne promised the Hicks 10% of the DVD sales, but just before the big money came in, Byrne told the Hicks that they would either have to accept ripping up the contract or be cut out of the film. The Hicks took $500,000 and went away. 

October 14, 2012, Snake Oil for Sale!

Not sure to where I begin with this one, but here goes…
I want to post this review of a YouTube video created by some woman named, “Teal.” Don’t know if it’s her real name. In her video called, “How to Raise your Vibration,” “Teal” claims, though she never divulges her authoritative sources, that “raising one’s vibration” is the result of one’s “commitment to personal happiness.”
Now, I get that the notion of “raising one’s vibration” or “frequency” has enjoyed some popularity for some time. The notion that vibrations were sacred appeared first in the East, in ancient Brahmanism, from which Hinduism descended. The Vedic cosmology claimed there were 14 planes (or worlds) of existence. Buddhism asserted that there were 31 planes of existence. However, it was Hinduism, primarily through Advaita Vedanta conceived by Adi Shankara, that claimed that the universe, represented by Brahman, was a “pure consciousness.”

Thus, the idea that the universe is a form of consciousness is very old, and existed long before the West got wind of it through the ancient pre-Socratic philosophers like Parmenides and Anaxagoras who conceived the universe as something like “the mind of God.” The idea that consciousness evolved or was capable of being “raised” in modern times seems to be first recorded by Ramakrishna, the 19th Century Hindu mystic and later updated by the 20th Century guru Sri Aurobindo. These spiritual metaphysicians, along with the Theosophist master Helena Blavatsky, who lived about the same time as Ramakrishna, all asserted the idea that the planes of existence, divine consciousness and sacred frequency were the same. These streams of spiritual ideas helped formulate what has been called since the 19th Century as the “Law of Attraction.”

The Law of Attraction’s main premise is that consciousness is superior to the physical, an idea that runs back to the ancient Vedantic principle that Brahman is the divine consciousness and the material world an illusion. In the West, this idea was latched onto by Theosophy and the New Thought Movement in the late 19th Century. The New Age spirituality and the principles of the Law of Attraction are essentially the culmination and combination of Theosophist and New Thought ideas.

Which brings us back to “Teal” and her video, which purports to be a “how-to” manual in drawing good things by only engaging in “good thoughts.” According to “Teal,” if one is to live a full and complete life one must make a “commitment” to “personal happiness.” This is done through the “raising of frequency” through “feeling good.” Yes, we’ve heard this all before. It’s from New Thought author W.W. Anderson and his book, “Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World,” published in 1903. Napoleon Hill followed with his, “Think and Grow Rich,” which was followed by the Secret, up to the present day with LOA proponents and New Age trance-channeler Esther Hicks.

While Theosophy and the New Thought Movement often placed humans as “divine” figures, neither movement tried to elevate personal happiness, or enlightened self-interest, at the forefront of their philosophies. That occurred with the rise of the New Age, with its emphasis on spirituality as commodity. Capitalism has long corrupted all forms of religious enterprises, so this isn’t such a surprise. It is interesting to note the uniqueness of the New Age shift to the concerns of the person and not say, the redemption of groups of humanity, as we have in the Organized Religions. This shift of elevating personal happiness to a spiritual goal coincides with neoliberal conceptions of personal liberty, acquiring property and the rights of the Individual.
“Teal,” like all who wish to ignore the scary parts that make up existence, is promising her hapless clients the virtue of magical thinking that will transform them into perpetual happiness machines.
This teaching amounts is the worst of snake-oil salesmanship, which may not be fair to snake-oil salesmen because at least they had oil, which was something tangible. People like “Teal” only give lip service and fluffy-sounding claims that cannot be verified by anyone.
How convenient.

Day 13: The Good Son

Day 13: The Good Son.

3/28/2012- 2012: Spirituality as Energetic Mind Enslavement

Freedom of Belief: Narratives of Mental Enslavement

The ancient Greek philosophers that lived before Socrates (d. 399 BCE) tried to devise cosmologies that offered a more naturalistic explanation of how the world worked, as they found the religious and mystical explanations lacking. They sought a unifying principle which they believed to consist of a singular substance from whence all things were made. Thales believed that water was the principle. Others believed it was fire or air.  To the modern mind, such theories, in light of what we believe we now today,  are laughable and quaint, but these speculations actually formed the beginning of the scientific process. We are intrigued at how the element of spinning stories to explain the visible world is essentially all philosophy and religion has ever done. Buddha found “enlightenment” under the bodhi tree. Adam and Eve at the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Jesus as the Son of God, died and came back to life. The earth is flat.  I think, therefore I am. Human beings are inherently good. Man is born with Free Will. There are supernatural powers that control reality and human destiny. And so on. But it is important to realize that these narratives, while they are quite handy in providing cover for our fears, when it comes to religious beliefs, they can never escape what they are: constructions of human consciousness in response to fear of the unknown.

Have you ever wondered why there are so many expressions of supernatural belief? How about that first person who convinced another that they saw a “god” or some spiritual event actually happened? What has to happen to someone for them to believe in something that they don’t understand? Let me give you an example of what I mean.

A colleague of mine was explaining to me why he was a Christian. The story he shared centered on this point; that there was a person he knew that had some sort of medical problem and he prayed about and was miraculously healed. “What else could it be,” he asked me. The unspoken answer that obviously formed in his mind was that it had to be “God.”

“Can’t you see,” I replied, “that all you did was create a story to explain something you don’t understand?”

“You must be a free-thinker.” (I’ve been called this many times in my life). He continued,” I respect your beliefs, why don’t you respect mine?”

In other words, he is asking me to believe that what he believes in is actually true. But I wasn’t claiming that he made the story up. “Your mind just created an answer. You can’t prove God healed your friend.” [1]

“You can’t prove God didn’t,” he replied.

“Then explain why God healed your friend and not the thousands who died today?” Because, wait for it… it was God’s will. See how wonderfully the different narratives dovetail into each other to form a perfect circle of logic of theology? Unless this person can find it within himself to break out of this mental fun house of crucified gods and miracles, he will be trapped within this for the rest of his life.

I bet some are asking, “But what’s the harm in believing in religion and its stories? Isn’t it a basic human right to freely express one’s religious belief?”

Take a look at the wars that are occurring now in this world. The Israeli–Palestinian conflict (which is part of the larger Arab – Israeli conflict) which has its roots in the desperate religious competition between Muslims and Jews. In Nigeria there are murders galore being committed by religious fanatics representing Christianity and Islam. The Lord’s Resistance Army led by Joseph Kony has been running religious war in the central Africa for over 20 years, killing, torturing, raping all in the name of Kony’s twisted Christian theology. In Yemen a civil war is being fought between Islamic Sunni and Shi’a sects and both sides are not above recruiting child soldiers to fight each other.

I could go on and on. These religious atrocities are occurring in modern times, never mind the voluminous catalog of vaguely ignorant fears the Unexplained conjured up in centuries past. Needless to say, humanity has not benefited from the religious narratives in any way.

Sai Baba is quoted to have said, “ The mind carries the divine principle (the light of love) and conveys it to all who contacts it.” From what I’ve seen in this world, the mind is a repository of unimaginable cruelty where the “light of love” only exists as a denial of the horrors that befall most people on this planet on a daily basis, almost of it committed by competing economic, political and religious systems.  Sai Baba may have actually believed his slogan of the light and love principle of the mind, but the fact remains  that all he could do was provide a nice-sounding story for his followers.

Isn’t religion the most subtle form of brainwashing? Isn’t spirituality the most subtle form of Mind Enslavement?

Now, what does this have to do with the notion that people have the “right” to choose and express their religious beliefs?

Note

[1] Reminds me of the story of Diagoras of Melos, the notorious Greek atheist who allegedly threw a wooden statue of Hercules into a fire and commanded it to either miraculously save itself or perform his 13th Labor and boil his pot of turnips. For this, a price was laid upon his head by the city fathers of Athens, causing Diagoras to skip town. But the story I want to tell comes from the Roman philosopher and statesman Cicero:  Diagoras was being lectured by a friend who tried to convince him of the existence of the gods by showing him the many votive pictures lovingly rendered by those who were saved from storms at sea by “dint of vows to the gods.” Diagoras replied, “Where are the pictures of those who had been shipwrecked and drowned at sea?”

2012/02/10 – Foxconn Suicides, Cheap Electronics and “Apple’s Values.”

Open disclosure: I have bought, use and own Apple products.

I am Not Happy with how they are made with the ground-up bones of human suffering! I’ve posted about Foxconn and Apple before here. And here comes the NY Times which recently published a series of investigative articles that brought (undoubtedly) unwanted publicity to Apple’s unfortunately named supplier, the now-infamous “Foxconn” corporation that manufactures iPhones and iPads nearly the same time when Apple reported its best earnings quarter ever.

In the article the Times reported the May 2010 explosion at a Foxconn plant that made iPad  components which ultimately killed 4 workers and injured 18. Also reported was a later Foxconn plant explosion that left 137 workers injured while cleaning iPhone screens with a poisonous chemical. There has been other problems at other Foxconn plants as well.

Foxconn has long been subjected to many charges of using underage workers and endangering workers’ health with improper storage and disposal of hazardous material. The Times article reported some Foxconn workers standing for long stretches of time suffer from “swollen legs,” exhaustion, stress and living in cramped, prison – like “campuses.”  In other reports workers claim to suffering disabilities like permanently losing the use of their hands as a result of endlessly repetitious tasks. Forced overtime pay is often “missing” from paychecks. Surveys of Foxconn workers suggest that over 72% work overtime hours which far exceed the legal maximum limits, some by 100 hours a month. [1]

While the Apple corporation set a record of billions of dollars in profit last quarter (more than any quarter by any corporation in history), attention was also drawn to the fact that workers in China labor under intolerably harsh conditions during six to seven days a week for an average of $1.42 an hour. The past two years have bedeviled Apple and Foxconn with reports of over a dozen workers (maybe more) committing suicides out of despair and hopelessness. The “Foxconn Suicides” has also deservedly  tarnished the sexy gleam of the ultra-hip, tech savvy market who love their iPhones.

The reaction from this is beginning to take a more visceral form than ever before.  Hackers have been busy with messing Foxconn’s internet data. Online petitions and demonstrations are gaining publicity through social networks. The ominous “B” word (for “boycott”) has been bandied about over the internet, which apparently led Apple’s CEO Tim Cook to complain publicly that Apple’s activities in China has actually benefited their Chinese workers by creating better working conditions within their supply chain operations. “The welfare of our employees is our top priority, and we are committed to ensuring that all employees are treated fairly and that their rights are fully protected.” Can you hear the violins? Cook stated, “Any suggestion that we don’t care is patently false and offensive to us. As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are contrary to our values.”

Whether this statement comes from a good place or not, we cannot know. But actions speak louder than words, and given the evidence, it seems that the lives of several hundred thousand unfortunate, mistreated Chinese workers do not compete well with Apple’s “values,” which seem to center around generating unlimited growth and billions of dollars in profit. In response to a rash of suicides where depressed, overworked workers leaped from the roofs  to their deaths, Foxconn promised to raise pay raises and more important, installed anti – jumping “suicide nets” around its buildings.

The fact of the matter is this: these abuses (and they are “abusive” as these are working conditions no one in the developed world would tolerate for one second) do not prevent or dissuade thousands of migrant workers to apply for work at factories like Foxconn for these highly-coveted jobs. Foxconn claims that they could hire 3000 workers overnight, and given the thousands upon thousands  who applied during their last employment drive, there is no reason to doubt it. But don’t look for any unionized or collective bargaining to aid these workers. Unions in China  are controlled by the Communist Party, are usually operated as extensions of the management and elite. This is a telling irony that should alert those who equate equal money with Communism. Or within Communism itself, for that matter.

Let’s face it: the difference between slaves and these Foxconn workers is that slaves don’t get paid. That they are paid better than before, or that they are paid in line with similar jobs in China doesn’t change the essence of their servitude. Within every dimension and definition of the word, these human beings that waste their lives building electronic crap to entertain the elites of the world are slaves. And what makes slaves so valuable to Capitalism is that human slaves have only one precious quality to give: their lives. And such a valuable commodity will always be far cheaper to use, deplete and throw away than machines. This is why Steve Jobs sent the work to China in the first place. He knew he could make a killing using cheap, disposable labor to create relatively cheap electronics overseas. That’s the sum of “Apple’s Values.” Apple never wanted to create machines to do the work to create their products. It is estimated that Apple makes a cool 50 – 60% profit on each iPhone it sells. [2] iPads are even cheaper for Apple to make. [3] The only “value” Tim Cook’s company recognizes is that in order to make gimormous profits, it’s okay that life is so cheap to make that happen for him.

But let’s not place all the onus on Apple.Microsoft also uses the Foxcomm company to make components for its Xbox 360 consoles. As Arel Technology News reports:

“Earlier this year, Microsoft was forced to deal with reports that 150 people working on the Xbox 360 assembly line at the Foxconn Technology Park in Wuhan had threatened to commit mass suicide. Microsoft claimed that the suicide protest had to do with working conditions, and was related to staffing assignments and transfer policies.” [4]

A list of companies that use Foxconn reads like a Best Buy Ring of Honor:

Acer Inc. (Taiwan)
Amazon.com (United States)
Apple Inc. (United States)
ASRock (Taiwan)
Asus (Taiwan)
Barnes & Noble (United States)
Cisco (United States)
Dell (United States)
EVGA Corporation (United States)
Hewlett-Packard (United States)
Intel (United States)
IBM (United States)
Lenovo (China)
Microsoft (United States)
MSI (Taiwan)
Motorola (United States)
Netgear (United States)
Nintendo (Japan)
Nokia (Finland)
Panasonic (Japan)
Samsung (South Korea)
Sharp (Japan)
Sony (Japan)
Sony Ericsson (Japan/Sweden)
Vizio (United States)

I’ll bet even money or better that anyone reading this uses a product from at least one of these companies, if not a half-dozen. Congratulations. You and I belong to a not so exclusive club: the Circle of Abuse of our Fellow Human Beings.

As you can imagine, there have been a ton of comments about all this bouncing on the internet. The comments within the various articles and responses have a binary cast. As many that seem to deplore the exploitation of the non-unionized Chinese workers by this quintessentially American corporation, logical justifications (and fallacies) rise up to excuse it. A small sampling:

“You can either manufacture in comfortable, worker-friendly factories, you can reinvent the product every year, and make it better and faster and cheaper, which requires factories that seem harsh by American standards,” said a current Apple executive.  “And right now, customers care more about a new iPhone than working conditions in China.”  – Excerpt: NY Times article In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad. Published: January 25, 2012

“I’ll tell you what. Let’s shut Apple down so the 600,000 people in China can all starve to death because there are no opportunities or market for their services at all.”

“Try subsistence farming in a rice paddy for awhile and see how it compares!”

“It’s barbaric. Ultimately the blame lies not with Apple and other electronics companies – but with us, the consumers. And ultimately we are the ones who must demand change.”

But here’s the takeaway point. Our greatest technological feats and triumphs often must depend on exploiting somebody’s misfortune. There is the neoliberal opinion that sweatshops are an “unsavory but necessary capitalist necessity.” They justify exploitation by claim ting hat there is little choice for the hapless migrant worker destined to travel from the countryside  into the metropolises of China’s big cities. Who wants a future of boiling weeds or getting wet in a rice paddy all their adult lives? By the thousands they are lured into factories like Foxconn because they feel the need to support their families back in the country. One such person who became a Foxconn suicide left this note shortly before he leaped from a Foxconn rooftop to his death:

“I came to this company for money. [But then I realized], this is a waste of my life and my future. In the first step of my adult life, I took the wrong path. I’m lost.” [5], [6]

 

[1] Beijing Qingnian Bao (Beijing Youth Daily). 7 June 2010. Dissect Foxconn: respect “Made-in-China” human dignity [in Chinese].

[2] iSuppli. 28 June 2010. Apple rides high-margin hardware to competitive supremacy.

[3] Apple. 22 June 2010. Apple sells three million iPads in 80 days.

[4] http://www.arel.info/technology/apple-boycott-urged-over-foxconn-investigation/

[5] Lu Xin, Foxconn employee, quoted in CCTV. 11 May 2010. Foxconn “seven consecutive jumps” incident. http://news.cntv.cn/society/20100511/104838.shtml [narrated in Mandarin, with Chinese subtitles].

[6] Chan, Jenny and Pun, Ngai, Suicide as Protest for the New Generation of Chinese Migrant Workers: Foxconn, Global Capital, and the State.  http://japanfocus.org/-Ngai-Pun/3408

 

2011/02/14 – Dragged to Death by Friends and Family

Deputy: Drinking may have led to dragging death

CORSICANA, Texas — Three men have been charged with murder after authorities said a 24-year-old was dragged to his death by a strap attached from his neck to a pickup truck bumper.
Christopher Neal Beckham of Milford was found in a plowed field early Thursday. Hill County Chief Deputy Steve Girsh said it appeared a night of drinking and playing pool led to a dispute “that simply got out of hand.”
The victim’s brother, Marcus Alan Beckham of Milford, 25, Raymond Scott Harrington, 32, of Trinidad, Colo., and Raymond George Harrington, 23, of Granbury were arraigned Friday and held on bonds of $1 million each in the Hill County Jail.
Girsh said in a written statement that the victim’s injuries were consistent with being dragged and were pronounced on his face, upper body, neck and hands. Extreme cold also may have also played a role. When he was found, Christopher Beckham was wearing only a T-shirt, blue jeans and boots.

Read more here: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7424895.html

© 2011 The Associated Press

2010/06/17 – The Imaginary Universal Book of Everything

I received an email from an old girlfriend of mine where she asked me a series of questions from an imaginary “Universal Book of Everything.”

The book asks: If a Spaceship lands next to you, and in it you find The Universal Book of Everything and then you are told that you are being given a bonus just for fun question. What is it?

Then it goes on to ponder the following:

Well, first I would ask for “a little help, here?” I mean, what the fuck? Why haven’t you and the Pan-Galactic Alliance of Light Weenyism Planets sorted out this world? You could bring the cure for disease, poverty and war and you just let us languish in our own stupidity and abusiveness? And all you have to say for yourself is you brought this stupid book for me “as a bonus? Oh, alright. Since yer here…

Have you hijacked your own search for the truth?

YES, i have. I have taken my search for truth hostage. It’s laying bound and gaged in the cellar. It had to be done, thanks to two philosophical positions that were all the rage in Athens 2500 years ago. (1) Protagoras claims that ‘truth’ is just the measure of one’s belief while (2) Gorgias stated that no ‘truth’ existed at all – we can only state that ‘which appears to be so.’

The Uncertainty Principle (physics) states that the momentum and position of a particle cannot both be precisely determined at the same time. Richard Rorty came to the same conclusion that “the truth is always made, not found.” Now, That’s the kind of philosophical skepticism one can hang their hat on!

What does spirituality mean to you?

Enlightened, fluffy, magic-unicorns-flying-in-the-sky-dressed-up bullshit. Spirituality is a lot like that famous American dish, liver and onions. Awful stuff – even if the liver is coated with breadcrumbs. I mean, I know it’s still liver under there. Blech.

My religious beliefs have been formed by the post-punk New Wave band, Ohio’s own Waitresses: “My goal is to find a cure for irony and make a fool out of God.” Well, I’ve moved on to making a fool out of spirituality.

What is the difference if any between a dogma and a natural law

Wow, I was just presenting this point in my latest video on the Secrets of Metaphysics with the sophists, who were very interested in this distinction between dogma (or convention) and ‘natural law.’ Dogma (obviously) is an agreed-upon, intellectual, codified and ‘official” belief system that the um… believers can’t deviate from or question. Natural Law is that which appears to be so in nature; gravity, the color red, things grow from seeds. Thales and the Presocratics imagined that the universe was ‘mechanical,’ which I suppose could be a philosophical outflow that resulted in the conception of natural law. Again, we can’t really say for sure, only offer ‘reasons’ why.

What are the dogmas in your own life?

Let’s see… well, for one, I have no skills with dealing with women, I don’t believe in the Hallmark Greeting card sentimentality of ‘love,’ people for the most part mean well, but really, they are deceptive, manipulative, murderous, spiteful, abusive and selfish assholes. Oh, and everyone thinks I’m ‘negative!’

How do they govern how you percieve yourself and reality?

Like that line in the Waitresses’ song, They’re All Out of Liquor, Let’s Find Another Party’ -  ‘trust no one and always insist ‘why.” There ya go.

Do you use the scientific method in your own life?

You mean the systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses? No. Well, I guess I do ‘test’ myself and experiment with ‘radical honesty’ and ‘self-perfection,’ but the results have been mixed, so far.

How has the split of science and religion affected your life?

Hm. Not much as I can tell.

What is the difference between science and religiion?

They are essentially the same, as they both arose from the human consciousness to explain its relationship to the world.

How has dualism affected the way you perceive yourself and reality?

Dualism is a mental construct that separates things into Either/Or – in other words, an equation. Is the universe mathematical, or just the mind?

Do you live your life as separate from nature and everyone else, or do you feel  truly connected?

Nature could only be a mechanical system like Thales, Anaximander and others have said. I feel a connection between myself and my G4 Powerbook laptop, so I guess any connection to anything outside ourselves is ever-present. Even though I am working to “un-separate” myself, it’s extremely hard. The sense of isolation can become narcotic after awhile, and comfy. But this results in the world becomes smaller and smaller as we diminish to the end. Unless there is some other unknown process at work, this means our life begins like it ends, alone. This shows me that life has no intrinsic ‘meaning.’ It’s here, however. Maybe it’s how we live it that gives meaning TO our living and dying. We might come back here, we might not. I will live under the assumption that I will come back, thus I have to do my part to make the world a better place. Finding my connection, making it real, and work towards the benefit of all are the only ways I can make this happen.

How often do you feel like a lizard? Can you grow a tail?

That’s really none of your business.

2008/09/12 – I Fell Today

                                              

 

 

It is what happens when I am late for work. I fuck something up. Not paying attention or something. But, no matter. I fell today. I fall every day, but this fall was very noticeable. Maybe even grievous. 

As I just written, I was late getting to work because I wouldn’t get up in time. So I decidedto stop at the AM/PM to get some gas and a coffee and donut. It was raining and I got wet. 

I was pouring coffee into my thermos when I hard a loud voice near the entrance, “GET OUT OF HERE!” I turned around. It was the manager yelling at what was apparently a homeless woman. She held up a five dollar bill and asked if she could get some cigarettes and a 40 ounce of malt liquor. She was dressed in denim shorts that had dark dirt stains on her ass as she wordlessly left the store. I recalled when I had to get some homeless guy out of the downtown Kinko’s where I worked years ago. I yelled, “Get out of here, ” as well. But I couldn’t see why she couldn’t buy cigarettes if she had the money. Unfair. I would’ve let her pay if she had money.

I paid for my gas and coffee and apple fritter and went back out into the dark, rainy early morning. As I began to pump the gas into my truck, I could see the woman being chased out of the gas station across the street as well. I saw her walk slowly in my direction. 

Fuck. I turned around and tried to will the gasoline to pump faster before she came over and bugged me, because even though I am not psychic, I just knew what was gonna happen next. 

I returned the nozzle to the gas pump and turned around to get into my truck. She was standing right there in front of me holding that five dollar bill. She looked at me. I saw her her face for the first time. Scaggly blonde hair that was quickly turning white. Big blue eyes, dull with little light inside them. Her lips were swollen and badly chapped. There were several cuts on her forehead that were beginning to heal up, as if she had been bashed around good. Yes, she had that battered, weather-damaged face that the homeless carry. 

“Please. Will you go into the store and buy me a pack of Bugler’s and a 40 ounce? I have money, but nobody will let me buy them!” 

As she stood there, I knew I had lost. Why did I give in? Maybe because I wanted to “right a wrong.” Maybe because I felt sorry for her condition, which I know she is solely responsible for. Maybe because she had the money and still wasn’t able to purchase her booze and tobacco. Maybe because she reminded me a little of Denise. Mostly because I’m a sucker. 

As this sorry episode dragged on, I knew full well I wasn’t really helping her by getting involved in this woman’s situation. I was only feeding her consciousness system that was busily destroying her. It was me destroying her in that moment. How sad.

In order not to arouse suspicions with the manager, I paid for the items with my card. It felt strange purchasing liquor at 6:00 am when I don’t drink. And yet, people do this. I paid for the poison and returned to my truck. 

Homeless people must develop a skill at being unseen, because there she was again – appearing out of nowhere. I gave her the bag with the booze and the tobacco. “Here.” She thanked me and then asked for a dollar so she could buy a lighter.

“Hey, I’m late for work.”

“But I gave you a five.” I chuckled and pulled out the five and handed it to her. Her face lit up in joy. 

“Oh, thank you! Thank you! You’re an angel. God bless you.”

I put the truck in reverse and called out, “There IS no God!” 

She replied, “I mean, God bless you.” She seemed a bit displeased having to repeat that, but off she went, presumably looking for a light in the rain. 

So I will do self-forgiveness upon this point tonight. Because I am haunted by her dull, lifeless eyes. Not out of guilt, but out of wonder in witnessing the self-inflicted suffering in others.

2008/09/03 -The Portal Has Closed

From the youtube video posting we read:

Reasons for Portal Closure:
1. To demonstrate that it can be closed in a single moment.
2. To make sure that the focus is the message and not the Portal.
3. To demonstrate that the dimensions and any other forces has no directive influence on the Portal.
4. To ensure that no self definition exist in being or becoming a Portal.
5. To demonstrate that Winged is not defined by being a Portal.
6. To demonstrate that the Desteni Message is not dependent on the Portal.

It is important to understand that the Desteni youtube clips were placed to be an assistance for those involved with the process of becoming self-honest and self- realized thru self-forgiveness and corrective application, and an answer to the unanswerable questions that we’ve been burdened with without relief about the nature of reality.  976 video clips mapping out the nature of reality. There has been nothing even close in terms of the sweep and depth of the messages given on the internet.

Interesting that messages of oneness and equality could generate such hateful, shrill and dismissive responses. Even at the very beginning of these episodes, begun just over a year ago, there was a spiteful tide of ugly and disgusting responses directed at Winged and Desteni for having the nerve to present their views over the internet. Of course, those of us at Desteni involved with the process of birthing the self into life understood that these vile, appalling responses were just the mechanisms of mind systems going off. These doofuses (doofi?) were just being true to their nature.

The accusations, insults, lies and aspersions were unceasing, as the curious confusion on the matter of Winged’s gender, the fascination with her bra size, and just about everything else EXCEPT the message she was delivering. Hardly surprising. People are mostly fucking idiots who don’t possess the common sense Anu gave a fruit fly. Thanks, Anu. Thanks a bunch. Thanks for helping manifest a never-ending, cretinous tide of dumbasses.

Curiouser still, after the announcement that the portal has been closed, many dumbasses – most hailing from the Netherlands for some strange reason – have gone silent, both on the forum and on the youtube channels. Maybe they feel reLIEved. One could only wish. Because the portal closing does not remove fear of the unknown. Bwaa haa haa…

So now that the portal has been closed (how long? maybe forever), we can get down on concentrating on the message that Desteni has been committed to bring to the world. See, just soaking up the information without applying it for real in your life is without value. Now I ain’t perfect, but I have had some ridiculous shit in my life I couldn’t straighten out for myself until I applied the tools Desteni suggested. And that was after many, many falls. I shit thee not. You can apply these things and prove it to yourself if they work or not. That’s why we don’t sweat it when some Holy Joe or Praying Polly tries to tell us how fucked-up we are for not “believing” in some goddamn-happy-asses- Pie-In-The-Sky bullshit that doesn’t make a lick of sense.

When you’ve proven something for yourself that works, you ain’t got no time for beliefs.

So the Portal is Closed. Yet the message and the tools remain.

Let’s see who will stand.